Imperial Capital traded about $60 million of Teco Energy's Union and Gila project debt last week. Market participants said CoBank was the seller and the price was around 62, but Imperial and CoBank officials declined comment.
"It was basically just year-end portfolio management decisions combined with a market that they thought was fair," said a source familiar with the trade. Three weeks ago, the $60 million piece was offered at 65 on a net-back basis which was equivalent to 71. The market range at the time was considered to be 66-68 (LMW, 12/13). Imperial has traded approximately $200 million of the paper in the past few weeks.
The Teco paper is part of a larger bank financing put in place in 2001 to support the construction of the two power stations. The effort was a joint venture between Teco Wholesale Generation, known at the time as Teco Power Services, and Panda Energy International. Teco bought out Panda's interest in the joint venture in 2003.